Lawyer by day, hacker by night, proud Navy veteran, writer, promoter of civility in political discourse, Philadelphia and Penn State sports fanatic, practicing philomath, bibliophile, enigmatologist, and last but certainly not least, Dad and Husband.

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11 July 2011

My BSidesLV / DEFCON schedule

No BlackHat for me this year, for a couple of reasons. First, I am working for myself and I simply can't afford it. Second, I have come to believe that BSides events are simply better time spent.

So yes, I'll be arriving in Las Vegas on Tuesday night and attending BSidesLV on Wednesday and Thursday at the Artisan Hotel. I was fortunate enough to be involved in evaluating the proposals this year and I can say you won't be disappointed.

On Friday, August 5 at 1100 I'll be giving my DEFCON talk entitled "WTF Happened to the Constitution?! The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age." Here is my abstract:

There is no explicit right to privacy in the Constitution, but some aspects of privacy are protected by the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. This presentation will discuss the historical development of the right to privacy, and in particular, the development of the Fourth Amendment; and then compares this historical development to the current digital age. The development of the right to privacy (especially given the historical context of the Fourth Amendment) to our current age requires us to deal with technologically invasive personal searches as airports, searches and seizures of laptops and other computing devices, and how to handle stored communications. It becomes evident very quickly that searches and seizures are not so clear when it comes to bits and bytes...so where do we go from here?

At 1300 on Friday I'll be moderating a Net Neutrality panel. Here is the abstract:

Over the last five years, network neutrality has moved from an abstract buzzword to FCC-enacted policy. Supporters and detractors both contend that their opponents position means "the end of the Internet as we know it!" This panel discussion will present a reasoned discussion of the issue from multiple viewpoints. Among the issues to answer: What is network neutrality and can we even agree on a definition? Does the FCC have the authority to enact net neutrality rules? What is the role of Congress in net neutrality? Lastly, what are the future implications for the Internet? This panel discussion will cover the basics of net neutrality, the role of Congress and the FCC in regulating the Internet, and the future legal and policy implications of the FCC's neutrality rules. Is the future of the Internet really at risk?

Finally, I'll be speaking again at DEFCON Skytalks. My talk is entitled, "Clearances and Chaos: Tales from the Crypt." Here is the abstract:

I spent the last six months looking for a new job. Along the way, I was invited to a ton of interviews, actually attended some of them, was surprised at the lack of technical questions in most of them, received some offers, and came away even more impressed with the value of a security clearance (if that is even possible). In the end, I decided to go out on my own as self-employed independent contractor. This is the story of my job search, but even more, it is a small story of the cleared infosec world: the stars are contractors, clearances and the chaos that ensues.

Unless things change at the last minute, no Toxic BBQ this year, and that's a shame. Otherwise, you can probably catch me at the DEFCON Forums meet. Most of the rest of the time, I tend to just wander from talk to talk and event to event. If you're interested in meeting up anytime that week, let me know!

Finally, since I've already had more than one such inquiry, if you're press and you'll interested in talking to me about any of my talks, please contact me at theprez98-at-verizon-dot-net. Thanks and see you in Vegas!